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Welcome to mhcameo, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum blog. Here we post about unique happenings, including behind-the-scenes looks at our exhibitions, close examinations of objects from the collection, and art-related chats with alumnae, faculty, and students. Sign-up below for blog alerts and take a regular peek at mhcameo!

In fall 2018, students enrolled in Associate Professor of English Amy Rodgers’ “Activist Shakespeare” class had the opportunity to work with Curlee Raven Holton’s Othello Re-Imagined in Sepia print series, exhibited at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. Students engaged with real-world examples of the activism-oriented Shakespeare adaptations discussed in their class.

During her LYNK internship at MHCAM this summer, Architectural Studies major and Religion minor Priscilla (Qizhen) Zhang '19 studied a group of Tibetan Mani stones in the Museum's collection. Zhang was especially intrigued by the religious stories present in the carved images and inscriptions on these stones, which she describes in this enlightening blog post. The Museum is grateful for her terrific work, and the important contributions of all of our brilliant interns--contributions that have inspired this new blog series, Intern Insights.

As one of her final projects before heading off to pursue a Master’s degree in art history, 2017-2018 Art Museum Advisory Board Curatorial Fellow Katia Kiefaber '17 reflects on an unusual book she discovered in an unexplored box in Museum storage. Bequested to MHCAM in 1991 as part of a large collection from alumna Helene Brosseau Black (Class of 1931), Marcel Vertès Dames Seules sheds light on queer relationships between women in early 20th-century Paris…but not as much as our author would have liked.

To Live Without the Mask of the Past: A Conversation with Curlee Raven Holton

Hannah Blunt

Curlee Raven Holton is a painter and printmaker whose work addresses significant personal, political, and cultural events. On view at MHCAM from July 17–December 16, 2018, Holton's print portfolio Othello Re-imagined in Sepia explores the humanity and emotional complexity of William Shakespeare’s tragic character. Associate Curator Hannah W. Blunt spoke with Holton about the research and inspiration behind the project, and how it connects to his larger creative journey—a journey about restoring humanity, showing our vulnerabilities, and removing our deceptive masks.

Curatorial Intern Juliana Cordero ’18 is a book lover. Her affinity for books is so strong, in fact, that she hopes to pursue a career as a book conservator. Here, she shares her favorite books from a collection of nearly 70 artists’ books by women recently gifted to MHCAM by Marjorie (Jerry) Cohn ’60. Cohn, a long-time conservator and curator at the Fogg Museum, amassed this wondrous collection over 25 years. Feminist themes abound in these books, through comedy, tragedy, and the commonplace. Read on…Cordero’s picks are laugh-out-loud funny!